Congress Can’t Count on the Other Branches to Protect Digital Privacy Rights

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently shot down the latest effort by the Justice Department to compel Microsoft to hand over the data of a foreigner stored overseas. Amazingly, the government asserted that a U.S. search warrant should carry jurisdiction over the data of an Irish citizen being stored on a server in Ireland, simply because it is owned by Microsoft, an American corporation.

Thank goodness the federal appeals court has now rejected the government’s attempt to have the case reheard, after a lower court ruling in the government’s favor which held Microsoft in contempt for failing to turn over the data was overturned last July. – READ MORE